WE'RE HOME!!!!

We made is home into Madison last night.  We are all exhausted!  I slept about 5 hours last night and then woke up wide awake at 4 am with Huahua and started unpacking suitcases (all six of them)  Then by time time we were feeling tired again Jordan and Justin awoke.  Justin said he was so excited he could not sleep because she was home with us!  He is so sweet with her.  Everyone wants to care for her and play with her all the time.  Problem today was she was so tired.  This morning of course she did her favorite activity--bath with big brother and enjoyed splashing and playing around!

Sihua is not found of the dog and calls him gou (the chinese word for dog)   She finally warmed up and petted him today while sitting on my lap.  Things will probably improve in a few days as she has never lived with a dog before.

Our travel journey began on Friday night in Guangzhou went we left for Chongqing.  We swung by the US Consulate to pick up her Visa and unto the airport.  Everything was seamless and we traveled to the airport with another couple who adopted from Lifeline.  The girls enjoyed playing together while awaiting for our flights and we enjoyed a delicious Chinese meal at the airport (dumplings!!!)

We traveled to Chongqing and met our guide, Michael, and went back to the same hotel we stayed the previous week.  The next morning we left about 10 am and started our journey to the United States.  We flew to Shanghai and collected our luggage and then switched airlines and checked in with Delta.  Sihua found that this way of travel was more fun than the stroller.  She loves to walk, but gets winded so quickly and asks to be picked up, and with six suitcases our hands were full!

Playing with her friend, Sarah, before leaving the hotel.  I just shriek when I think of her sitting on the floor anywhere--China has squatty potties--but hey she's a two year old.  We used a lot of hand sanitizer.

A little airport entertainment with pipe cleaners.  Cheap, lightweight entertainment that goes a long way, for both adults and children.

We tended to set up the bags at both ends of where ever we were sitting to try to block her in otherwise she would be headed for the escalator.

When we boarded our long flight,  we did not have 3 seats together.  We asked those around us and thankfully we able to work out arrangements with a few people to exchange seats so were would have three seats together.  Yeah!!! It would have been a long flight with only one of us watching her at a time.
The plane had wonderful in board movies and TV available in many languages.  One of the gentlemen that exchanged seats with us helped show me which was chinese.  Huahua enjoyed Sesame Street in her native language over and over until......

she could not stay awake any longer.  I am so thankful she was able to rest on the flight for many hours.  The longest flight was about 13 hours and she did not have any health problems that were concerning and handled things very well.  She was a trooper and we give praise for the Lord watching over our travels.  We entered the US through Detroit and went through customs and she became a U.S. citizen!

 The next flight to Madison left like a puddle jump and we quickly arrived to be greeted by some of the happiest children.  Jackson was under the weather with a fever and stayed home with Aunt Christy (as to not get his little sister sick)  Sihua took their hands and marched off to baggage claim within a few minutes as if she knew exactly where she belonged.  Then we had the ride home.....

Yeah, the car seat was okay for a few minutes, but anything that restrains a tired, strong willed two year old is not bound to turn out well.
Sadly, there are reasons why children from these backgrounds don't like to be restrained.

So this is something we will work on with patient hearts.

She is very tired today (as Ryan and I are) and finds snuggling a favorite activity with her new siblings.  We had our family Christmas today and the children enjoyed opening their gifts from China.  We tried to keep her awake a little longer to she would sleep through the night, but by 6:00, she was out!

A little breakfast very, very early, since we are living on China time!

December 26- Day of New Beginnings

December 26 will always be a day of new beginnings for our little girl.  One year ago today she was given a new breath of life when she was wheeled into a hospital operating room in Chongqing China and was given her life saving Glenn Shunt procedure.  I begin to cry when I think of the hundreds, maybe thousands of people who stood behind her and said her life was worth saving.  Only the Lord knew at that time she would become our daughter one year later.  Today December 26, 2013 Jessica Sihua walked into the US Consulate with her Mom and Dad and applied for her Visa to enter the United States!  Praise God!

 Celebrating with some good Thai food!  The Oehlhof girls love Thai noodles.  One is better with chopsticks!

Yesterday we went to to top of the Canton Tower in Guangzhou.  It's the third tallest building in the world and has the highest lookout observation platform.  As the sign says-No jumping!  They have a ride that orbits the perimeter of the building.  I got a kick out of the rules that included no alcoholics or psychotics allowed on that ride!  Sometimes the English translations are really amusing!  The elevator we rode to get to the top was half glass on the front side.  I was very glad to be standing on the back side of it!  Sihua is not afraid of heights as she walked the perimeter of the glass bubble overlooking the city.  It was a beautiful evening as the sun went down on Guangzhou.

On top of the tower at 450 meters (approx 1500 feet).

We found the play set at our hotel today.  She loved the spiral slides and went on over and over.  Can you start to see we may have another adrenaline junkie on our hands?

We head out tomorrow for Chongqing for one night.  Then we will be boarding our flights back home Saturday, Dec 28th!  We actually arrive home the 28th because of the time change....I guess we go back in time coming back home. We connect through Shanghai and then Sihua will become a US citizen upon arrival in Detroit on Saturday! We are to arrive home about mid evening in Madison, if all goes well.    Keep her in your prayers, as this is a long flight (one flight almost 14 hours) for her heart to endure. Pray for her oxygen levels to remain stable and for us all to have the patience and endurance to manage the long travel with a two year old.







A special thank you to Love without Boundaries, aunt Katie, and all those who believed this little life was special enough to save.  As I watched her fall asleep tonight,  just amazed by the glory of our creator, she is just incredible.  Martin Luther said "We ask for silver, and God gives us Gold."

Yuntai Garden and Pictures of Guangzhou

In China there isn't enough room for everything,  inventory, the people, so things are just piled on top of each other.  Here the inventory for the sidewalk stores just spills over into the street.  Notice the bus traffice is a mere few feet from it.  These large bags might be seen on top the back of someone's bike.  Today we noticed there was an extraordinary amount of trash laying around and the trash cans were pulled out and spilled all over.  I thought maybe there were celebrations last night.  But we learned the city trash workers went on strike today.  We saw some of them walking around holding signs.  Not sure how long this will last or what the ramification of a strike in China are.  Apparently they are asking for higher wages.

Sihua is into shoes and prefers to wear my shoes.  While we were out she was trying to get me to take them off so she could wear them.  She is very forceful about her opinions.   How do you explain in Chinese she can't wear my shoes while out in public only in the hotel room?


She loves to ride along on Daddy's shoulders.  Quite the view from up there.  She likes to pat his head and play with his hair.  She also like to use his head as a steering wheel and direct which way he goes.  Do you see a pattern of who likes to be in charge?

I love to see all the different modes of transportation in the city.  They all travel on the sidewalks to the street.  These smaller units await the shoppers at the mall exits to take them and their purchases to their final destinations.
I guess they are mini cabs.  You always have to be on the look out so you don't get run over!

This would be equivalant to a delivery semi truck in our area.  Notice the amount of boxes of merchandise just sitting curbside.  The shops are located on the opposite side and the extra inventory is kept outside the shop.  We went inside the mall.  It was like shopping on black Friday with twice the amount of people in about 1/4 the space.  The shops were all Mom and Pop little store fronts with supplies and the rest of their merchandise around the floor in boxes.  No back room with merchandise.  The mall was eight  floors high around the square.  Furniture on the top floors, which we didn't venture!  You could find just about anything there!  Quite the experience with a stroller and a toddler.  Sensory overload for me!

These are all pictures at the Yuntai Garden.  Each area is decorated for different regions around the world.  They had a beautiful rose garden.  Sihua was enjoying walking along the grated walkway.  For having low oxygen levels she sure does tramp around with the best of them!  She huffs and puffs and then finally gives up!

She is very good at sharing her toys with other friends.  This is her favorite toy that sings a song in Chinese.  A woman in the local shop gave it to her for being "so cute"!  Sihua sings along with it.  These two little girls share the phone back and forth.  Their family is headed to get one for the plane ride home today!

She spotted a bird (which we don't see many) and thought she would try to catch it!

Like I said.....She goes and goes.....till she gives out!  Fell asleep standing up on the bus!  Today we took the morning off so she could get her morning nap in!

Dinner cruise & Merry Christmas!!!

Last night we went on a dinner cruise with the Lifeline group.  If you have not experienced Chinese culture, it's everyone for themselves!  There is no order to things or at least not to what I have figured out.  So we were warned when they say it's time to eat get yourself up to the buffet right away.  Apparently the announcement was made and within 15 seconds you look around and all you see is 20 tables of Americans looking at each other.  So we just waited a bit and then headed up to see what was left.  There was plenty of food to go around and the buffet was quite good.  Plates , yes actual plates, were limited, and kleenex were used for napkins.  And small, small forks, because we were suppose to use the chopsticks.  Huahua is the only that can do that well enough to feed herself!

We saw the 3rd tallest building in the world (pictured here) called the Guangzhou Tower from our dinner tour.  It lights up with florescent lights, changing colors ever few seconds.

The children enjoyed the after dinner entertainment, with balloons and Sihua had a soccer ball spun on her fingertip.  She is very outgoing and willing to try new things.  Here she was showing off and entertaining the crowd herself!

Loves her noodles!

Posing on the grand spiral staircase.

The lobby of the hotel is quite grand.  Here is the Christmas tree. Notice the ceiling and the picture of the spiral staircase.  Huahua was busy pushing another child around in her stroller with a little help from some friends.  We appreciated this because we usually have to chase her around the lobby because she makes a b-line for the escalators .  She likes to ride them up and down, up and down, up and down.

This is what we do when we're not shopping, sight seeing or taking baths!   Have I mentioned to has probably taken 20 baths in the last 10 days.  She is such an entertainer and has her Daddy's sense of humor.

Enjoying a little snack on the way to shopping. Someone is going to have a huge surprise when she lands in America and we start using a car seat during transportation.  Right now it's a great time for her to socialize with all the patrons on the bus!

You might wonder why are we just shopping and sight seeing in China???  Well we are awaiting our consulate appointment on Thursday, 12-26-13.  Good news. Huahua's TB test was negative, so that's another hurdle jumped through.  Last hurdle will be the consulate appointment on Thursday where we will apply for her Visa to enter the US.  We will pick it up Friday end of day. Our travel home starts the following day :)

Many of the Lifeline families went shopping today at the "Island", but before we celebrated our Christmas together with lunch.  We were able to read the Christmas story from the Bible and pray together before our meal and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  We topped off our meals with a bunch of shared chocolate treats.  The big and little kids all enjoyed that!  Here Huahua was sharing her treats with the waitress.

Lifeline Families all in Guangzhou

Lifeline families in China a little too long!  Ready to head home :)

The river around the boardwalk island.

This store owner claimed to give us a special discount because she shared a name with our baby!  Huahua did get a free toy phone from another store owner because she said she was so cute!